| Panel: India must secure elephant reserves By NIRMALA GEORGE 2010-09-01T01:22:33ZNEW DELHI (AP) -- India should protect its elephant population by securing its wildlife reserves, curbing poaching and restricting development in the corridors they use to travel between forested areas, a panel recommended.... hosted.ap.org |
Today's mystery bird for you to identify | GrrlScientist Caught in the act of diving, this migratory North American species is an extremely rare vagrant to western EuropeMystery Bird photographed at the Bolsa Chica Wetlands, Huntington Beach, southern California, USA. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]Image: Steve Duncan, February 2009 [larger view].Nikon D200 w/ manual Nikkor 600 f/4 on tripod w/ gimbal mount.There are several interesting features about this species' reproductive habits, particularly regarding its nest choice and the behavioral and evolutionary consequences of that choice. Can you tell me more about this? Daily Mystery Bird Rules: 1. Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification, keeping in mind that more than one field mark is often necessary to distinguish between species. IDs without any supporting information are not valid and may be deleted by the moderators. 2. Expert and intermediate level birders: please do NOT try to be the first to blurt out the mystery bird's ID. Instead, please provide helpful hints, such as descriptions, literary references, puns, personal anecdotes, and other forms of discussion and assistance for beginning birders and those following on their iPhones without naming the species. Expert and intermediate birders are free to name the bird species 24 or more hours after it was first published.3. Each mystery bird is usually accompanied by a question or two. These questions can be useful for identifying the pictured species, but may instead be used to illustrate an interesting aspect of avian biology, behaviour or evolution, or may be intended to generate conversation on other topics, such as conservation. 4. Each bird species will be demystified 48 hours after publication. If you have bird images, video or mp3 files that you'd like to share with a large and appreciate audience, feel free to email them to me.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
The pygmy seahorse of Papua New Guinea | GrrlScientist This lovely video captures one of the nine miniature seahorse species known so farJean-Michel Cousteau and his Ocean Futures Society team were extremely fortunate to get an up-close look at this tiny coral reef resident in the waters of Papua New Guinea - a miniature seahorse! Captured on film is one of the smallest vertebrates in the world - the pygmy seahorse. Living in the tropical waters of New Guinea and belonging to the same genus as their larger cousins but reaching a maximum size of about an inch, its no wonder that many of these miniature species have only been discovered within the last decade. Currently there are nine known species but, with scientists and divers exploring more reefs and making better observations, surely there will be more discoveries to come.GrrlScientistguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
GSK to donate a billion tablets a year for neglected diseases Today the World Health Organisation will launch its first report on progress in combatting the neglected tropical diseases that undermine the health of the poor and wreck their life chances. GSK will donate drugs costing £12 million a year, but other companies need to do moreGlaxoSmithKline will today commit to donating one billion tablets of its drug albendazole every year, to treat children in poor countries whose growth and learning capacity is threatened by intestinal worms.It's enough to treat every child in Africa. GSK already gives 600 million tablets for its flagship global health programme against lymphatic filiariasis (also known as elephantiasis), but the same drug works against the worms, called technically "soil transmitted helminths", that cause stunting and worsen anaemia in children who live in some of the poorest communities on earth, where clean water and good sanitation are not available. These children end up missing substantial amounts of schooling and their life chances inevitably worsen.Andrew Witty, GSK's chief executive, will announce the donation with World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan at a meeting today, where the WHO will launch its first report on neglected tropical diseases - those sicknesses of the poorest, which include LF, intestinal worms, schistosomiasis (bilharzia), Chagas disease and others that the wealthy world is hardly aware of.The increased production of albendazole at plants in India will cost GSK £12 million a year from 2012, Witty said, which will not hurt one of the world's biggest multinationals. But Witty pledged GSK would do its part and spoke of his satisfaction that his staff were becoming "restless" for results in the developing world, where the company is working towards a cheap malaria vaccine as well as offering its research capacity and resources to scientists.He also spoke of his hope that other companies might join in - there are or could be relatively simple drugs to treat at least some of these diseases.I know there is a real appetite amongst my industry colleagues from many companies to play a full part.Leading the charge against schistosomiasis and intestinal worms is Imperial College's Schistosomiasis Control Initiative, which was launched nearly a decade ago by Professor Alan Fenwick. Last Friday, as I posted here, DfID announced it was putting £25 million into provision of 75 million treatment kits for both schistosomiasis and intestinal worms. That money goes to the SCI. £1 million of the £25 million would have been spent on GSK's albendazole tablets - until now, the SCI has had to buy them, because donations were only available for LF. Now, says Professor Fenwick, "GSK is going to donate albendazole, so we can use the £1 million for delivering it."Good news all round, although it could perhaps have come sooner. The SCI asked GSK to donate albendazole for its de-worming programmes eight years ago, when it began. At the time, the chief executive was Jean-Pierre Garnier, not Witty, and the answer was no.But Witty yesterday said they would have had to increase their production capacity at the time (which they have done since and now will again). And now, the time is right. This is the moment for neglected tropical diseases, which now have the attention of the WHO and others as never before. NTDs are a priority for GSK. We believe we can make a very broad contribution... we are relentlessly asking ourselves what else we can do.Will the spotlight now turn on other drug companies? Merck KgaA, perhaps, which is donating 20 million tablets of its drug to treat schistosomiasis per year. Yet 200 million children are infected. Will we see some greater generosity from Merck KgaA today? STOP PRESS: This is the latest on drug company deals from the WHO today - several hours after I wrote the above. In addition to GSK:Novartis renewed its commitment to donate an unlimited supply of multidrug therapy and loose clofazimine for leprosy and its complications.Sanofi-aventis has agreed to renew its support for the WHO programme against sleeping sickness elimination and support for Buruli ulcer, Chagas disease and leishmaniasis for the next five years.Bayer has started discussions with WHO on how to evolve their current commitment to fight African sleeping sickness and Chagas disease.EISAI has committed to work towards the global elimination of lymphatic filariasis by providing diethylcarbamazine (DEC).Johnson&Johnson also announced last week that it is expanding its donation of mebendazole to supply up to 200 million treatments per year for treating intestinal worms in children.And Merck KgaA?(Incidentally I have altered my original reference from "Merck" to "Merck KgaA, because Merck & Co have been in touch, anxious to point out that this is the German company and not them.)Infectious diseasesPharmaceuticals industryGlaxoSmithKlineWorld Health OrganisationSarah Boseleyguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Lung taste receptors may improve asthma treatment By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID 2010-10-24T22:05:44ZWASHINGTON (AP) -- The ability to taste isn't limited to the mouth, and researchers say that discovery might one day lead to better treatments for diseases such as asthma.... hosted.ap.org |